Poll: Cuomo shows mastery

Governor soars in survey after using his political acumen to achieve many of his top goals

By JIMMY VIELKIND Capitol bureau

Published 12:01 am, Thursday, June 30, 2011

ALBANY -- Just before his November election, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said his success would be known six months after taking office.

But Friday, the Democrat barely smiled as his lieutenant, Bob Duffy, praised him.

"Working with Gov. Cuomo is like taking a painting class from Picasso," Duffy said. It was late Friday night, and the pair was flanked by same-sex marriage advocates following the measure's much-anticipated passage in the state Senate. The vote, which made national news, somewhat obscured the passage of another Cuomo priority, a cap on local property taxes.

Though a bit hyperbolic, Duffy's words were also the crack of the starter's pistol on a deserved victory lap for Cuomo. Other Capitol observers offered similar praise.

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"The first six months of a governorship is really the time where the most difficult things can be done," said Gerald Benjamin, a political science professor at SUNY New Paltz.

New governors arrive with high visibility, an electoral mandate representing the majority of voters who have said they should be given a try, and fresh relations with often-recalcitrant legislators, Benjamin said.

Cuomo fit the mold, but also brought tremendous political acumen to the Executive Chamber. His father, Mario, was governor from 1983 to 1994, and young Andrew worked as his campaign manager and top administration aide during those years. He continued to learn political lessons as a Cabinet secretary for President Bill Clinton.

Over time, Cuomo has become "enormously strategic," said Abe Lackman, a scholar-in-residence at Albany Law School and former Senate aide.

"He had one thing outside of his power going for him: He became governor after two disastrous governors, in terms of actually getting things done," Lackman said, referring to Eliot Spitzer and David Paterson.

The top observers agree Cuomo chose to focus his efforts and rhetoric on broad strokes that resonated with the public: passing a budget on time, without raising taxes (never mind it was followed by thousands of teacher layoffs); bill to "clean up Albany" by tightening ethics enforcement (never mind its key disclosure provisions don't kick in until the 2014 election cycle).

While most governors emerged bruised from budget negotiations, Cuomo was able to flip a perennial gubernatorial critic -- a lobbying group funded by hospital workers and owners -- to spend $6 million supporting his plans. He drew cover from friends, including the Committee to Save New York, a pro-Cuomo coalition.

"Politically, he figured out where the opposition to everything is, and headed it off in advance," said Quinnipiac spokesman Maurice Carroll. "He got the budget in shape by cutting this, that and the other, and right at the end (of session) liberals love him for going for gay marriage."

It was a classic case of triangulation, and with fiscally conservative and socially liberal credentials, Cuomo enjoys broad support.

Some newspaper editorial boards questioned whether the ethics bill creates a sufficiently independent watchdog panel. Cuomo has continued to appoint political donors to state boards -- aides say that's prompted by their public-spirited interest, not donations -- and has very tightly controlled the flow of government information. So how long might the honeymoon last?